Howard W. Hunter, (1907-1995)14th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Howard W. Hunter

“In my lifetime I have seen two world wars plus Korea plus Vietnam and all that you are currently witnessing. I have worked my way through the depression and managed to go to law school while starting a young family at the same time. I have seen stock markets and world economies go crazy and have seen a few despots and tyrants go crazy, all of which causes quite a bit of trouble around the world in the process.

“So I am frank to say tonight that I hope you won’t believe all the world’s difficulties have been wedged into your decade or that things have never been worse than they are for you personally, or that they will never get better. I reassure you that things have been worse and they will always get better. They always do—especially when we live and love the gospel of Jesus Christ and give it a chance in our lives”

(The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter p. 202).

Doctrine and Covenants 61:36-37

“And now, verily I say unto you, and what I say unto one I say unto all, be of good cheer, little children; for I am in your midst, and I have not forsaken you; and inasmuch as you have humbled yourselves before me, the blessings of the kingdom are yours.”

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7 thoughts on “Be of Good Cheer”

Is that from the talk he gave at the Marriott center when the, umm, slightly unstable young man threatened everyone with a “BoM”? It sounds very familiar to me. I found great comfort in that talk after 9/11.

Elaine – a good question! You are correct. The full speech can be found here. For readers who are not familiar with the story here is a direct account from the LDS media report:

President Hunter followed the example of Jesus Christ when faced with a life-threatening situation.

“On 7 February 1993, he was on the Brigham Young University campus to speak at a nineteen-stake fireside and [video satellite] broadcast. As President Hunter rose to address the nearly twenty thousand young adults assembled in the Marriott Center, an assailant threatened him, shouting, ‘Stop right there!’ The man claimed to have a bomb and a detonator and ordered everyone to leave the stand except President Hunter. Many people did leave, yet President Hunter resolutely stayed at the pulpit, with two security guards. Although threatened by what looked like a gun, President Hunter firmly declined to read the written statement the man handed to him. When students spontaneously began to sing ‘We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet,’ the assailant was momentarily distracted. [Some people] rushed him and took him into custody. … Security guards lowered President Hunter to the floor for safety.

“There was, of course, a considerable commotion in the audience, but soon a reasonable calm returned. After a few moments to collect himself, President Hunter made a second approach to the microphone and read the opening line of his prepared text: ‘Life has a fair number of challenges in it.’ He stopped, looked over the audience, and added, ‘As demonstrated.’ Then he went on with his message as though nothing had happened”
(found in Ensign, Aug. 1994, pp. 11–12).

Post script to the story: The man’s name was Cody Judy. The suitcase with the “bomb” turned out to be filled with papers and a telephone. During an interview on Salt Lake City’s X96’s show, Judy claimed that he “was not really lying, but simply referring to a Book of Mormon by its initials, BOM”. He was arrested, convicted and served eight years in prison. At one point in the prison sentence he escaped and had to be tracked by K-9s. In another bizarre side-note, in 2002 Judy ran for the U.S. House of Representatives as a write-in candidate. He received 8 votes.

I continue to thank God for leading me to your blog for the purpose of seeing the Mormon faith through the eyes of someone practicing it. You have never disappointed me.
” I reassure you that things have been worse and they will always get better. They always do—especially when we live and love the gospel of Jesus Christ and give it a chance in our lives”.

All faith systems are under attack as never before and very hateful things are being said every day on the web and inciting the unstable to acts of violence. President Hunter’s words are prophetic for the one who follows Christ and I believe more and more that includes many more than we realize. I am not a Mormon, “but I approve this post”.

The Lord’s promise “I have not forsaken you” in that verse is very timely and meaningful to me right now. I have felt Him sustain me many times, and now is one of those times when I feel I have no other strength than His righteous arm. When I think of all He has carried me through, I am filled with gratitude and praise.

In response to John Paul, I will say for myself that as a Mormon, I welcome any person of faith who will stand with me and others who support Christian values. I don’t want to hijack MoSop’s blog for political purposes, but I want to say that I find it disturbing that Sarah Palin has been called a “radical” for believing in a Creator and in the sanctity of human life (this is not an endorsement of Palin or McCain or anybody else—just an observation). If those are radical beliefs, then I will gladly be called a radical Christian (my other radical views include love thy neighbor, judge not that ye be not judged, and suffer the little children). Anybody who will declare those things with me, I will gladly call a friend and a brother (or sister).

I have “Be of good cheer” posted in a little notepad on the upper right hand corner of my computer screen, and in several other strategic places around my home. It helps me to be reminded daily that the Lord loves us and watches over us constantly.

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